Tal Memorial 2012

[plastic]

Carlsen has 33mins to 12 after 30 moves but It looks like it will harder and harder for black to find good moves while not very difficult for wihite. I can't see how black isn't losing a pawn eventually at least.

[plastic]

Originally Posted by John_Douglas

What is Carlsen doing in this tournament? He has a virtually hopeless position after only 15 moves.

How could the number 1 player in the world go in for such a position right out of the opening?

Perhaps brushing the cobwebs off this is the longest break he's had since he was pre-pubescent and has the least amount of chess this year out of all entrants in the tournament.

I hope that's all it is anyway

[John_Douglas]

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but Morozevich is now a pawn down. The position looks like a pretty easy draw however, in the absence of any further mistakes by White.

[Do it Right]

Brave for Grischuk to be willing to go into a mainline bayonet against Kramnik, but it ended up looking brave kind of in the way that taking on a tank with a pistol is brave.

[mangler241]

Originally Posted by Do it Right

Brave for Grischuk to be willing to go into a mainline bayonet against Kramnik, but it ended up looking brave kind of in the way that taking on a tank with a pistol is brave.

Playing into a line that likely caused Kasparov to give up the KID....and Carlsen somehow escapes with a draw; does it really seem that Morozevich is much weaker than his rating indicates in almost any endgame or am I just watching a bad selection of his endgames?

- "bigpooch"

[ganstaman]

Originally Posted by mangler241

Playing into a line that likely caused Kasparov to give up the KID....

Though didn't Radjabov successfully play it many times after that? Even against Kramnik?

[mangler241]

Originally Posted by ganstaman

Though didn't Radjabov successfully play it many times after that? Even against Kramnik?

Just looking at this link ( http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess...=&eco=&result= ), Radjabov wasn't afraid of playing the KID against Kramnik, but in the 2011 WCC, he opted out from a possible Bayonet with 7...ed4 and preferred playing the Black side of the QGD against Kramnik. If the strongest active practioner of the KID is avoiding the Bayonet in recent history against Kramnik, that says something about Kramnik's opening preparation.

[ganstaman]

Originally Posted by mangler241

Just looking at this link ( http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess...=&eco=&result= ), Radjabov wasn't afraid of playing the KID against Kramnik, but in the 2011 WCC, he opted out from a possible Bayonet with 7...ed4 and preferred playing the Black side of the QGD against Kramnik. If the strongest active practioner of the KID is avoiding the Bayonet in recent history against Kramnik, that says something about Kramnik's opening preparation.

It's an interesting relationship. Back in 2007 and 2008, Radjabov pulled out the KID against Kramnik in Corus, but it was Kramnik who avoided the Bayonet Attack (both ended in draws). I feel like this opening comes and goes a lot. From your link it seems we're currently in a "white looks better" time period, so it does seem weird to play it vs Kramnik. But I could easily see Radjabov making it look good for black again soon, maybe even in this tournament? (I hope so at least, it would be fun)

[mangler241]

Rd 3: Aronian loses an ugly one to McShane and Morozevich looks like he escaped with a win in a complicated game as Black against Grischuk. Radjabov ridiculously takes a draw in a position as White against Kramnik up an exchange - this game pretty much confirms one of the comments of a GM made about Radjabov's play ( he's too willing to take a draw in a clearly better position ). Nakamura tries to get something with the King's gambit against Tomashevsky and probably stood a bit better after Black's 13...c6, but Black was able to get a draw. Can anyone tell me what is wrong with 6...Nb4 in that game? ( 7. d4 Bf5 8. Na3 g5; maybe White can sacrifice his rook on a1, but I'm pretty sure Houdini will think Black is better ). Carlsen tries the rare 7. Qa4+ in an exchange Grünfeld against Caruana and probably should have opted for 13. Bxf3 instead of 13. gf3 and everything petered out to an opposite colored bishop ending. It's nice to see that Morozevich could have a good tournament and hopefully he won't be too disappointed with his own play.

[John_Douglas]

It's a bit harsh to criticize Radjabov for taking a draw in that position. It's easy to switch on Houdini and see that White has a +1.18. It's slightly more difficult to play White's position against one of the best players in the world with time trouble approaching.

If you don't believe me, try playing White's position against a computer - after a few moves you'll start getting hit by Ng2/Nh3 tricks in every line. It's not an easy position to play to play for White even if he is objectively better.

[Do it Right]

I strongly disagree there. Against Houdini I played 23. Rea1 g6 24. Nf1 Kg7 25. Ne3 h6 26. Nh4 Qc7 27. Kh2 Rf7 28. b3 and with clear targets for white black's position is pretty much dead. I took about 0.1s to make each of my moves so certainly white could play much better. It's not a tough position at all. That's very weak on Radjabov's part. If he's not willing to press there I don't see how he's ever going to win against the top half of this field. They're not going to be often just blundering away bunches of material as McShane and Tomashevsky did. If positions are reversed Kramnik 100% continues playing and takes home the full point the vast majority of the time.

[John_Douglas]

Originally Posted by Do it Right

I strongly disagree there. Against Houdini I played 23. Rea1 g6 24. Nf1 Kg7 25. Ne3 h6 26. Nh4 Qc7 27. Kh2 Rf7 28. b3 and with clear targets for white black's position is pretty much dead. I took about 0.1s to make each of my moves so certainly white could play much better. It's not a tough position at all. That's very weak on Radjabov's part. If he's not willing to press there I don't see how he's ever going to win against the top half of this field. They're not going to be often just blundering away bunches of material as McShane and Tomashevsky did. If positions are reversed Kramnik 100% continues playing and takes home the full point the vast majority of the time.

Actually Kramnik said in the press conference that he would probably have taken the draw given the same position and clock situation.

Even in the final position of the line you posted, Black isn't dead at all. If Black plays cxb3 Bxb3 Bc5 and just sits, what's White's plan to win? And any plan White wants to execute (let's say Nf3-g1-e2), he'll have to calculate the consequences of f5 on every move. It's a very complicated position.

[Do it Right]

Haha, what do you want me to play an entire game against Houdini? I played it to the point that it's clear white faces no real danger and has a clear way to further improve his position.

Where is the interview at? I believe you but want to hear the context of Kramnik's statement since I really just don't believe any player of his caliber would even consider drawing that position.

[YouKnowWho]

add "with 15 minutes for 17 moves remaining" to all of your above comments please

[John_Douglas]

Originally Posted by Do it Right

Haha, what do you want me to play an entire game against Houdini? I played it to the point that it's clear white faces no real danger and has a clear way to further improve his position.

Where is the interview at? I believe you but want to hear the context of Kramnik's statement since I really just don't believe any player of his caliber would even consider drawing that position.

Ok, well that statement is a far cry from "Black is dead" - but even then I don't agree with you - I don't see a clear plan for White to win the game in the final position, and an eventual f5 by Black will create a huge mess on the board where White can easily go astray. It doesn't really matter what evaluation the computer gives because in a game by two humans with limited time, they are not going to play perfectly - the position is very imbalanced and any mistake by either side could swing the evaluation.

The video of the press conference is on the official site, but it's all in Russian. I'm not sure if it's available anywhere in translation.